Cleveland Indians, Andrew Miller go back to the "drawing board' regarding his right knee

CLEVELAND, Ohio - As manager Terry Francona put it, "it's back to the drawing board" for the Indians and sore-kneed reliever Andrew Miller.

Miller left Monday's game with soreness in his right knee, the same knee that put him on the disabled list from Aug. 2 through Friday with patella tendinitis. On Tuesday, the Indians put Miller and right-hander Danny Salazar on the 10-day disabled list.

Salazar going on the DL with a sore right elbow was a surprise, but there was no surprise about Miller being placed on the DL for the second time this month. Not after he took himself out of Monday's 5-4 win over Boston in the seventh inning after his knee did not react well to a delay because plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt left the game after getting hit in the mask by a Joe Kelly warmup pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning.

It took eight minutes to 10 minutes for Alan Porter to replace Wendelstedt behind the plate. Miller walked Mookie Betts on six pitches when play resumed. He threw one pitch to Andrew Benintendi and then called for Francona.

"The best diagnosis is rest, but I think Andrew wants to be proactive," said Francona. "We'll see where that leads."

Asked if it the Indians would try to make sure Miller doesn't try to come back too quickly this time, Francona said, "I don't think he's going to relax. I think he's going to get after it because he enjoys competing so much.

"It's just trying to get the best information we can (on how to treat) the injury."

When Miller came off the disabled list, the Indians put him on a schedule. He wasn't going to pitch in consecutive games and he wouldn't go longer than three days without pitching.

"Last night he warmed up and said it was his best day," said Francona. "Then he warmed up and stood there for about 15 minutes. ... Now if that's what caused it, it's probably going to happen anyway. I'm not blaming the umpires. It was a little bit unfortunate.

"So again we'll go back to the drawing board. I have a lot of confidence in our medical people. They're not afraid to reach out and get direction from the best people in the country."

Francona said the Indians have consulted the Cavs because Miller's injury is found among NBA players. Like the 6-7 Miller, NBA athletes are tall and spend a lot of time standing on hard surfaces.

"It's more of the same," said Miller, when asked about the injury. "It's a little sore. I hope we can come up with something new (to treat it). But nothing new has been added to it.

"It's just a setback, unfortunately. It is what it is. We're looking at some other things (to treat it) because we have some time."

Miller felt he had found a good way to brace the his landing knee, but there was no way to prepare for the delay he faced on Monday night.

"Really, we were trying to monitor the throwing coming back," said Miller. "The situation last night you can't predict it. It is what it is. That's baseball.

"I don't know how Hunter is feeling today, but he's probably worse off than I am. Those things happen. It wasn't good for me. But it is what it is."

"With all the information and feedback I got, I felt I was in a pretty good place," said Miller. "I felt pretty good yesterday until the very end, which was different than it had been. I was confident in the direction it was going.

"Just the amount of time it took (to get a new plate umpire in place) was, obviously, the biggest setback. But you can't control that. I can't control a wild pitch in-between innings taking out an umpire."

Miller said he suffered from the same injury earlier in his career.

"It reacts to usage," said Miller. "Ideally we get it completely taken care of. It's something I've dealt with in the past a long time ago and I know I can get rid of it. I think it's important to get back to that place."

Miller said the tendinitis is in a place where he can't get a cortisone injection.

"There are things out there that we're looking into," said Miller. "We're not there yet. We're still digging that stuff up."